If Artists Get Their Cut

A coming change in British tax law could reshape the world's resale market

By

Alexandra Peers

Updated Jan. 14, 2006 12:01 a.m. ET

With some noticeable dips, the past quarter-century has been one long confetti-filled party in the art market. The record for a painting, just $2.3 million in 1979, sits at $104.2 million today. In the intervening years, a bustling global art market was born. Arguably, artists missed out on the party. Prices are soaring, but visual artists, unlike writers or composers who earn royalties on their works, never get a cut of the resale of a work of art.

That's about to change. As part of the European Union's harmonization of...